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The Crystal Hunters: A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 29. An Unseen Danger |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. AN UNSEEN DANGER "I shall be glad when Melchior comes back," said Dale, as they sat resting that night, with the dark shadows gathering in the valley, and the various peaks burning still in the sinking sunlight like glowing fire. "I suppose he may be here any time now?" replied Saxe. "Yes--no: he will be sure to have a heavy load, and he will not try to hurry the poor beast." They had had the crystal out to examine again, and the more it was judged the higher Dale's opinion of it grew. "No," he said suddenly: "that would not do at all." Saxe stared at him, for this remark had no bearing upon what had passed before. "I said that would not do at all, Saxe, to have some one watching our movements, and taking advantage of our being away to profit by them. Still, I feel pretty safe so far, and to-morrow we will climb to the mouth of that gully and stop about it, even if we do not go up." "But suppose anybody came and took them after we had discovered them: wouldn't that be stealing!" Dale shook his head. "Oh no. These people who make discoveries of curiosities in the mountains consider they have a perfect right to them, as sons of their fatherland; and, as foreigners, I'm afraid we should get a great deal of law and no profit if we raised the question. The best way is to keep our discoveries as secret as we can. Now, then! what do you say to drawing the curtains and going to sleep?" "I'm ready," said Saxe; "but my! what a lot of adventures we are having in so short a time!" "All lessons for you in mountaineering, my lad. Good night." "Good night," said Saxe drowsily, as he lay down inside the tent, and at an hour when he would have thought it absurd to think of going to sleep at home. But nature was quite ready, and as he watched Dale fastening down the door of the tent with a peg, he dropped right off to sleep, but only to start awake again, to sit up, and stare wonderingly. "I said we have our crystal to take care of now, boy," said Dale, laughing at the comical figure Saxe cut; "and we must not invite a visit from burglars by leaving the front door open. There, good night once more, and don't have a nightmare, and get dreaming about being fixed on a mountain shelf, like an English ornament, for strangers to see!" "That's too bad," said Saxe drowsily. "I did find the crystal cave." "So you did, Saxe, and it is too bad. Never mind, my lad. You've done well. Once more--good night." Was it the next minute after saying that? Saxe was not sure, but it seemed to be directly, though it could not have been, for instead of being twilight it was now quite dark. "What is he doing?" thought Saxe, as he heard the faint sound of moving about. The canvas door of the little tent was open, for he could feel the cool night air blowing in upon his face, with the crisp, bracing sensation of wind off the snow-capped mountains. Saxe lay still listening. He was very sleepy, and now, as he came to the conclusion that it must be close upon daybreak, and Dale had risen to light the fire and make coffee so that they might start for the ravine as early as possible, he determined to lie perfectly still and feign sleep till the last minute, and a sharp summons bade him rise. It is that last bit of snooze which is so enjoyable. One goes to bed because it is time, and after a good deal of waiting sometimes one goes to sleep; but it is not the delicious, easy-going sleep of the last half-hour in the morning--a sleep so enticing to most people: at all events, boys feel as if they would barter all the rest of the night for that half-hour--the last before rising. The rustling went on, and Dale went out, only to come in again. "How stupid it is getting up so soon!" said Saxe to himself. "It's all very well when you've to cross a pass before the snow melts; but to be always getting up when it is cold and dark, and sitting down shivering to your breakfast, when you might be quite warm in the sunshine if you started at decent time, is so absurd." He lay thinking. "He doesn't seem to have lit the fire yet, for I can't hear it crackling," he said to himself after a time. "Perhaps he'll rouse me up directly to light it. Bother the old fire! I hate lighting fires. Oh, it does make me feel so cross to be roused up when one hasn't had enough. I haven't half done. I could go on sleeping for hours, and enjoy it, and get up all the better for it, and be stronger and more ready to climb afterwards. No wonder I feel a bit tired sometimes!" Saxe had no difficulty about lying still, for every limb seemed to be fast asleep. It was only his head that felt as if he was awake, and that only half. The moving went on; but no fire crackled, and he was not roused up. "What can he be doing?" thought Saxe sleepily. "I don't know. It must be packing up for our start. Let's see, when will Melchior be back? This morning, I suppose. Wish he was here now to light the fire. He's so used to it--he does it so well; and then, he always makes such delicious coffee, that I enjoy my breakfast far better than when we make it ourselves, or Mr Dale makes it, and--Yes, all right!" "'Wake, Saxe? Sure?" "Yes, quite awake." "I'll get you to light the fire this morning, my lad: one of my arms feels a little strained." Dale drew the canvas door aside and stepped out, while Saxe lay wondering how it was that it was quite dark one moment, when Dale was moving about, and broad daylight the next. "I must have been asleep," he exclaimed. "But what was he doing that he hasn't lit the fire? How strange!" Saxe sat up and rubbed his eyes and yawned; then leisurely slipped on the jacket and handkerchief he had taken off before lying down; and the more wakeful he grew the more puzzled he became, till a happy thought occurred to him. "I know," he said: "It wasn't getting-up time. His arm hurt him in the night, and he was walking about on account of the pain. I wish I had spoken to him. Too late now. Never mind; I'll make haste, and get him a cup of coffee." Saxe bustled about, and soon had the fire crackling and the coffee kettle full of fresh cold water over the bright flame. It was daylight, but some time yet to sunrise, and the air was very cool, but Saxe hardly felt it in his busy preparations; and he was eagerly watching the kettle when Dale came back. "Ah! that's right, my boy," he cried. "I shall be glad of a cup of coffee." "Is your arm better, sir?" said Saxe. "My arm is better, comrade," replied Dale, smiling. "I thought we had decided that there was to be no 'sir' out here, but only a brotherly salute, as befits mountaineers." "I had forgotten," said Saxe; "and the other seems so natural. I am glad it is better." "Thanks, lad. I've been to the little cascade, and held it under the icy cold water as it fell. The numb chill seems to have done it no end of good." "You should have spoken to me when it was so bad in the night." "I could not," said Dale, looking at him wonderingly. "Was it so very bad, then?" "No; it was not bad at all. I did not feel it till I got up." "That's when I mean--while it was dark." "You've been dreaming, Saxe. I did not get up when it was dark; and, by the way, when did you get up and open the tent door?" "I didn't," cried Saxe: "it was open. I felt the cold when you woke me with getting up and going in and out." "Why, Saxe," cried Dale, seizing the boy by the shoulder, "do you mean to say you heard me moving about in the night?" "Some time when it was dark; and I thought you were dressing." "This is very strange," cried Dale, who looked puzzled. "Hah!" cried Saxe excitedly; "where did you put the crystal?" "In the leather bag that I used for a pillow." "Then it couldn't have been that," said Saxe, in a disappointed way. "I thought--" "I don't know so much about that," cried Dale excitedly; and he ran into the tent, dropped upon his knees by the leather bag, and tore it open. "Gone!" he said. "That's what I thought," cried Saxe excitedly. "Then there is some one keeps on watching us, and he stole that crystal in the night." Dale closed the bag with a snap, and stood gazing up at his companion for some minutes in silence. "This is very ugly, Saxe," he said; "and I don't like it." "But that's it, isn't it?" cried the boy. "I am afraid so. I can only think you must be right, unless one of us took it." "Took it!" cried Saxe. "Oh, Mr Dale, you don't think I would take it?" "No, my lad, of course not," cried Dale, bringing his hand down on the boy's shoulder with a hearty slap; "but I think it's quite likely that after the excitement of yesterday, and the remarks you made just before lying down, that you may have dreamed that the crystal was not safe, and taken it and hid it somewhere." "Oh, impossible!" cried the boy. "No, quite possible; and if you have not done this, I think it is quite likely that I may. Why, Saxe, our brains were regularly crystallised last night." "Oh! I don't think it's anything to laugh at," said the boy seriously. "It could not have been, for I was awakened by hearing some one moving about." "Yes; and you thought it was I." "Yes." "Then it must have been, and sooner or later we shall find where I have hidden it. Come: you are sure it was I? You saw me?" "No; it was too dark for that. I only thought it was you." "Then it must have been, for you would have felt the difference in some way if it had been any one strange. Well, I'm glad of it, Saxe; for it would have been ugly and unpleasant coming to rob us wherever we rested. Why, of course, I remember!" "What--taking it?" cried Saxe. "No. What did I say about fastening the door, so as not to tempt burglars?" "I remember you said something of the kind, but I was terribly sleepy." "You were. Well, I said that; and of course I went and dreamed about burglars, and got up, I suppose, in my sleep to take care of the crystal. There, don't worry about it any more, and let's have breakfast." "But the stones, the figure I saw, and the night alarm?" "Oh, fancy, I dare say, boy," cried Dale, pouring out his mug of coffee, while the boy followed suit, but with his brow wrinkled up with trouble. "Pity we have no milk. That's the worst of being too high up in the mountains. Come, eat away! the bacon's cooked better than Melchior's, and he's almost the prince of bacon chefs." "I--I don't feel as if I can eat any breakfast this morning," said Saxe drearily. "Nonsense, boy! Why, even if it were as you have imagined, what would it matter? We should only have to take extra precautions: set a watch, perhaps, as the sailors do. We shall have Melchior back soon, and we shall hear what he has to say. There, go on--eat. You can't work without. We've found one crystal cave, and that encourages us to find more. You can't help me if you starve yourself; and I want to get you up to the top of one of the highest mountains about here yet." The result was that Saxe made a very hearty breakfast; for after the first mouthful or two, he forgot his mental troubles, and obeyed his companion with all his might. The meal ended, the wallet was stored with all they would require for the day; and as Saxe arranged the contents, he looked up at his companion. "What is it?--something else gone?" "No," replied Saxe: "I mean yes--gone. There will be scarcely anything left to eat for tea when we come back, unless Melchior is here." "Ah, yes, Melchior," said Dale, taking out his pocketbook and writing down in German-- "Gone up the right side of the glacier. Look out for cross chipped in the ice opposite a black ravine." "There," he said, tearing out the leaf, "I'll put this on the big stone by the tent door, and another stone upon it to keep it down." He suited the action to the word; and soon after, fully equipped for their little journey, the pair started, descended in due time to the glacier, where the tiny streams were trickling fast in the hot sun, and then toiled on and on through the never-wearying scenery, past the ends of the two great, now very familiar, crevasses, and sat down at last to a light lunch off the entrance to the black ravine. Here, as soon as they had finished their meal, Dale lightly chipped a cross in a piece of smooth ice, just off the entrance; while Saxe climbed up the steep valley side a little way, threw himself down upon a flat ledge of rock, and began to look cautiously round, scanning the opposite side of the valley, and then up and down and up again. "Hist!" he whispered suddenly; "don't look up. Some one watching us." "Whereabouts?" "Across the valley, high up to the right of some tall, rugged seracs." Dale slowly sank down on the ice behind a great block of granite, which must have fallen from the mountain side and been borne down upon the glacier. The next minute he was peering carefully round from one side. "Yes, I can see him, lad," he said; "but I don't believe that fellow would touch a crystal if there were thousands." "You always think these people are so honest!" cried Saxe. "Well, what could he do with it? I never knew one of them yet who cared for crystals. Ah! there he goes, right up over the snow. Look! look! Saxe. Isn't it wonderful how an animal can dash at such a speed over those dangerous places!" "Why, it must be a chamois!" cried Saxe, in disgust at his mistake. "Yes; and I dare say there is a little herd of them somewhere up yonder in the mountain. Now are you ready to own that you are a little accustomed to give rein to your imagination?" "I suppose so," said Saxe, rather dolefully. "It seems so easy to make mistakes." "Yes, we all find that," said Dale merrily. "Now take another look round, and see if you can see squalls." "Now you are laughing at me," said Saxe resentfully. "No: I am in earnest. Take a look round, boy, and then we'll go up the ravine and satisfy ourselves that it is all safe, and come back after a quiet investigation, so as to see whether there are other ways of fixing our rope. I should like to go up higher, too, and try whether we cannot get out on to the mountain, as I at first proposed." Saxe swept their surroundings as well as he could, and paused to gaze at an ice-fall on the opposite mountain, a dull, heavy peal like thunder having announced that there had been a slip. It was very beautiful in the bright sunshine, and looked wonderfully like water as it plunged down into a dark-looking crack, which Dale declared must be a huge bergschrund, between the snow and rock. But there was no human being in sight, as far as Saxe could see; and as soon as he had descended, they began to climb the little lateral valley as on the previous day. Hardly, however, had they passed out of sight, before high up on the mountain slope, what at first sight seemed to be a bear came into sight, creeping cautiously in and out among the stones, till it reached one of the many ledges of a precipice, and trotted along toward the edge of the lateral valley, over which it peered cautiously, and then drew back and went higher, repeating the action several times, and in the distance looking more and more bearlike in its movements, only that there was this difference, that instead of the travellers stalking the bear, the animal seemed to be bent on stalking them. _ |
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